Location: Paris Weather: Sunny but at times overcast, 24 °C It is such a relief to be in a cooler climate. After arriving at our hotel on Friday evening we went for a walk through the Latin Quarter/ Saint Germain des Pres and had a lovely dinner at a Café. We sat outside but were glad to be cold as it made a nice change from the heat and humidity of Greece. Dinner was a very nice; French Onion Soup followed by Four Cheese Salad. No bread - too difficult! Cheese Salad may be my staple food for France like Greek [View Full Entry]

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Location: Athens and Corinth Weather: Sunny, 31 °C As I had visited Athens before joining the cruise I selected to visit the Corinth Canal and the site of Ancient Corinth. The Canal was amazing; it is difficult to believe that it was made entirely by hand thousands of years ago, the rock has been carved so smooth. We stopped to take photos and have a coffee break - I had the worst coffee ever, smelt good, looked good but tasted awful! I saw signs of the recent fires around Athens as we made our way to Corinth, all were very close [View Full Entry]

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Location: Aghios Nikolaos and Knossos Weather: Sunny, 27 °C Last tender trip into town for the cruise, it is nice to arrive in port by a boat rather than just walking down a gang way - adds some excitement to the process. Aghios Nikolaos is a pretty port town, the shops circle the port and boy did I do some shopping! All throughout the cruise I have looked at the jewellery in the various ports visited - I have wanted to buy something but have not seen the right something. Well in Aghios Nikolaos I saw two items that I loved [View Full Entry]

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Location: Cruising in General Weather: Sunny, 27-34°C Cruising is the best way to travel! All the different locations without having to pack my bags and move onto a new location every night. The facilities on the ship are fantastic, the food is exceptional without being too much in terms of amount. I have noticed that the trend is to have more than one entree/dinner/dessert but I am very good at having just one! Trish you would be very happy to hear that I am working my way through the cocktail menu but I have realised that in order to have every [View Full Entry]

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Location: Dubrovnik Weather: Sunny, 33 °C Kathy and I both went on a tour in Dubrovnik - I gave her a break from doing the washing! The medieval city of Dubrovnik was beautiful. However in the heat the glare from the limestone roads was very bright and added to the extreme heat. I have to admit that I am getting tired of the heat - it is exhausting walking around and listening when it is too hot. An interesting fact about Dubrovnik - it was never conquered in its many centuries of existence, every time it looked like war might be [View Full Entry]

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Location: Corfu Weather: Sunny, 33 °C Corfu is definitely somewhere I want to return to - this island is part of the Odyssey! The Paleokastrtsa Monastery was well worth the visit as it had some of the best icons I have seen - I have made a point of going into the Orthadox Churches while wandering around on my own as Mum said the icons in the churches are fantastic and she has not been wrong. I even brought a copy of the Mary icon as I thought it was so beautiful. Corfu has and had a very large English population [View Full Entry]

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Location: Katakolon and Olympia Weather: Sunny, 34 °C I have a true appreciation of how students feel about listening and work when it is hot! Today I travelled to Olympia - site of the original Olympic games but while the guide was explaining things all I was trying to do was find some shade. It was a bit like the episode of the Simpsons told from the dog’s perspective, every time the humans spoke the dog heard random sounds - I was listening but not listening. The Museum at Olympia was good, the air conditioning made it so. Some of the [View Full Entry]

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Location: Santorini Weather: Sunny, 30°C At Santorini we arrived in the new port by tender boats, the journey in the caldera was quite rough as the wind had picked up again. The road up the side of the caldera in the bus was quite scary as you were often perched at the edge of the cliff. I visited a winery while on Santorini, the grape vines are grown on the ground in a basket shape in order to protect the grapes from the hot dry wind. The wine was very nice but 10am was a little early to be having a [View Full Entry]

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Location: Rhodes Weather: Sunny, 30°C Rhodes was stunning and I have decided that I must come back here again for a longer period of time. Rhodes town was a change of pace as the tour I selected focused on the medieval aspects of the city rather than the ancient. The first stop was the panoramic view from Filerimos. Rhodes was a significant stop for the Christian Knights during the crusades. The monastery at the top of Filerimos has some beautiful icons of Mary. The tour then walked through the medieval aspects of Rhodes - many of the streets and buildings are [View Full Entry]

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Location: Delos and Mykonos Weather: Sunny, 26 °C Delos has to be the windiest place on earth! Our guide told us that there were only two types of hairstyle on Delos - the windy look or hat hair! We arrived in Delos by tender boats and it was a very choppy trip to the dock. By law no one is permitted to live on Delos or swim in its waters (except the security guards). The whole island is one giant archaeological site. The city itself must have been huge and was a significant religious centre and trading port for the ancient [View Full Entry]

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